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ALIA Library Technician Research award

proudly sponsored by Charles Sturt University

Nominate now for the Library Technician Research Award (previously known as the Dunn and Wilson). The Library Technician Research Award provides the recipient/s with an opportunity to undertake a particular project of relevance to the role of library technicians in the broad library and information profession. The award proposal can be made by an individual financial library technician member or a group of financial library technician members.

The Association of Cooperative and Specialized Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association, announces the winner of the ASCLA/KLAS/NOD award: “Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected,” — a remarkable project developed by Margaret Kolaya, director of the Scotch Plains Public Library, and Daniel Weiss, director of the Fanwood Memorial Library, both in New Jersey.

The award, sponsored by ASCLA, Keystone Systems, and the National Organization on Disability, recognizes a library for â€œan innovative and well-organized project which has successfully developed or expanded services for people with disabilities. The winner receives a citation and a $1000 prize, funded by Keystone Systems.

Kathleen Hegarty, Chair of the ASCLA Awards Committee, commented on the choice of “Libraries and Autism” for the award: This outstanding project has launched a virtual campaign to make libraries aware of people on the autism spectrum and, most notably, to train librarians to serve this growing, underserved population. Its accessible website offers valuable background information, a superb customer service training film, and supportive materials and graphics, all of which can be downloaded. State sponsorship, able project leadership, the involvement of the autism community, and highly effective promotion have contributed to the success of an initiative that has had national impact.

The sophisticated, yet user-friendly website, www.thejointlibrary.org/autism, contains numerous citations to print and non-print materials, websites, and organizations concerned with the autism spectrum disorder as well as an Autism Overview PowerPoint presentation. Individuals with autism and library staff interact in the 19-minute training video which focuses on some unconventional behavioral traits of people with this disorder. Techniques are then suggested and demonstrated that will enable librarians to respond in a positive and welcoming manner.

Providing expert commentary are: Dr. Linda Meyers, Executive Director, COSAC (The New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community), Dr. Jill Harris, Director of Psychology and Coordinator of the Autism Center of Excellence, Specialized Children’s Hospital, and Adrienne Robertiello, Community Partnership for People with Autism, who appears with her son in the video.

The video is intended to form the basis for workshops such as those held by the project for its own library staff, local school media specialists, and selected libraries in New Jersey. It has been the springboard for workshops in other states, among them, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Supportive materials include: a list of workshop consultants; publicity logos; sample publicity release; a non-verbal communication tool; customer service tips; and a unique storybook template, “This is My Library,” – which can be customized by the individual library to provide a visual pre-visit tour of the library for the child with autism. A “Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected” – decal for the library door or window is available on request.

As a component of the project, the training video has been distributed to every public library in New Jersey, many schools, special and academic libraries, and to every New Jersey legislator. The Pennsylvania State Library has also replicated 1000 copies.

Other promotional efforts — the comprehensive release sent by PR NewsWire and MultiVU to thousands of local and national media outlets and to over 3600 websites and the YouTube posting of the training video–have evoked enthusiastic responses from libraries nationally and internationally as well as from individuals in the autism community.

The project is a part of the “Welcoming Library Spaces for the Autism Community and Their Families” incubator project which was made possible by a contract with INFOLINK: The Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. The Cooperative and its services are funded by the New Jersey State Library which is responsible for the coordination, promotion, and funding of the New Jersey Library Network.

Indigenous Knowledge Management –Voices from the past: knowledge for the future

This two-day masterclass will provide an interactive environment in which to explore critical areas associated with the effective use of knowledge management techniques within the Australian indigenous culture. Effectively engaging indigenous communities, finding functional methods to capture, transfer and preserve oral and traditional knowledge, and exploring narrative techniques are the key focuses of this event.

Jerianne Thompson reviews five zines you have no excuse not to include in your library because they’re very popular at a small public library in Tennessee. Many libraries start zine collections as a way to attract and serve young adults;teens and twenty-somethings;who may feel their library has little to offer matching their interests. Through zines, we can provide access to information and topics that are limited within our general collection. more » » »

The “1,000 Words: The Power of Visual Storytelling” panel—featuring a star-studded panel of international artists—began a little late. But all was forgiven once the moderator, novelist/performer Jonathan Ames, got everyone’s attention with his amazing, animalistic “hairy call.” He explained it was an audio warning he and his friends had used to alert each other to oncoming peril when being attacked “by more normal children.” Like a literary starting gun, it kicked off the panel discussion.

The Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in contemporary Society (LinCS), Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS),University of Borås and University of Gothenburg

About the Seminar:
In this seminar Anna will present her ongoing doctoral work which focuses on information activities and information practices in primary school. The setting for the study is two Swedish third-year forms where children (generally 9 year olds) are working with research or inquiry- based/problem-based assignments.

Annas thesis is related to the research field within library and information science called information needs, seeking and use (INSU), as well as to the field of information literacy. The thesis also builds on a sociocultural perspective on learning, particularly on the school of thought that originates in the work of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Her work is also influenced by the new sociology of childhood.

During this talk Anna will focus on the methodology used in the studies, namely visual ethnography and interaction analysis. Using a camcorder during the ethnographical fieldwork makes it possible for the researcher to carry out a detailed analysis of children interacting with each other, with the educators and with the tools used for information seeking and use. It also enables a focus on the visual aspects of the practices studied, which requires new ways of presenting the empirical material.
For more information about Anna, visit: http://www.adm.hb.se/~alu/index.htm

About The Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in contemporary Society (LinCS),
LinCS is a national centre of excellence funded by the Swedish Research Council and with additional funding from several agencies. The focus of the research is on issues of the relationship between learning and media, in particular how digital technologies and media transform how knowledge and information circulate in society, and the implications of these developments for learning at the individual and collective level. The research projects include studies of learning in educational settings (in various subjects and areas), at work places (hospitals, industry, design etc.), and in virtual environments and communities.
For more information about LinCS, visit http://www.ipd.gu.se/english/research/research_programmes/lincs/